Three former UK residents held at Guantanamo Bay who were released from US custody Wednesday and then detained by UK authorities the same day on their arrival home were released from UK custody Thursday. Libyan Omar Deghayes and Algerian Abdennour Sameur were arrested and Jordanian Jamil el Banna was detained under the Terrorism Act . [...]
The US Senate passed the Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2007 Wednesday, a bill that would impose new economic sanctions and travel restrictions on leaders from Myanmar . The bill is intended to push the military government to restore democratic rule. US Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), one of the sponsors of the [...]
The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution against "defamation of religion," expressing concern about laws that have led to religions discrimination and profiling since Sept. 11. The resolution urges all: States to provide, within their respective legal and constitutional systems, adequate protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of [...]
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey sent a memo to top Justice Department staff Wednesday advising them of a shift in DOJ policy that will limit who can discuss ongoing investigations with the White House. After he was nominated as attorney general, Mukasey promised that the DOJ would maintain greater independence from the White House, saying [...]
A Chinese court has sentenced former prosecutor Li Baojin to death after convicting him Wednesday of accepting bribes and embezzling money. Li was found guilty of accepting $760,000 in bribes over a 10-year period while he worked as chief prosecutor and deputy police chief in Tianjin, as well as embezzling $1.9 million from the prosecutor's [...]
Cambodia has lodged a formal complaint with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon over a UN official's comments earlier this month criticizing Cambodia's human rights record, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday. Speaking at a rally in Phnom Penh to mark International Human Rights Day on December 10, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation [...]
South African National Prosecuting Authority acting Director Mokotedi Mpshe said Thursday that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to support corruption charges against Jacob Zuma , who earlier this week was elected leader of the African National Congress , putting him in position to become the country's next president. Zuma has been facing corruption allegations and other [...]
The US Senate and House of Representatives Wednesday passed by voice vote the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 , which closes a loophole that allowed Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho to purchase firearms despite a court order mandating psychiatric treatment. The US House first approved the bill in June; the Senate passed an amended [...]
United States of America v. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Guantanamo Bay Military Commission, December 19, 2007 . Read the full text of the decision . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
The US Central Intelligence Agency will turn over information to Congress regarding the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects , Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday. Reyes' committee had begun the process of drawing up subpoenas for CIA documents after the Justice Department initially [...]
